Umar says that the provincial government is ‘not part of the conspiracy to change the government’.
Quetta: The PTI said on Sunday that the Balochistan government was “not part of a conspiratorial regime change operation” and therefore the party would not resign from the province’s legislature.
Speaking to reporters in Quetta, the party’s general secretary Asad Umar said the Balochistan government was not “imported” though “it may have its own advantages and disadvantages but it is a result of the internal democratic process here”.
“Therefore we are part of the Balochistan Assembly and part of the government here,” Umar explained, adding that the federal government’s case was different because “over there, a regime change operation conspired and we refuse to be a party to that”.
A day earlier, PTI chairman and deposed premier Imran Khan had announced his decision to dissolve the assemblies in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa – where his party was at the helm of affairs — on December 23 (Friday), staking his hard-earned political ground on a bid to trigger early elections.
Responding to a journalist’s question in Quetta, Umar said that “no decision has been made” about dissolving the Balochistan Assembly.
However, he stressed that the assemblies in Punjab and KP will be dissolved on December 23, as announced by Imran.
In this regard, he added that he was directed by the ousted prime minister to visit Balochistan and take notice of the preparations for the elections in the province.
“People are joining PTI because they saw that with PTI in government for the first time there was an effort to give Balochistan its full rights and I am very proud that when we held the annual Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) Two years ago, the funds allocated to Balochistan were more than those allocated to Punjab,” he claimed, reflecting the steps taken by the deposed government in development projects.
“Elections will be held in Balochistan in 2023 and God willing, [the] PTI will form the government here and this is Imran Khan’s promise that I communicate on his behalf that within the first year of being in government, the people of Balochistan will also benefit from the Sehat Card,” he added.
Earlier, rifts had emerged in the PTI Balochistan chapter over the issue of en masse resignations from the provincial assembly as the party appeared to be divided into two factions – one led by Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind, the ex-provincial party chief, and the other by former National Assembly deputy speaker Qasim Suri.
Rind claims to enjoy the support of four of the seven PTI lawmakers in the Balochistan Assembly.
